Right now, looking out my window, it's a bit of a winter wonderland outside. It's been snowing for two days straight and, although Christmas is over a week away, it sort of feels like it's here already! So, while I'm sitting here waiting for the snow to stop on this wintry Sunday morning, I decided to round up some last minute gift ideas on Etsy. Happy holidays! ~Erin

12.07.2013

Macaron madness has been sweeping America for some time now. Frankly, it’s been going on for so long now that I’ve sort of forgotten where is began. But, despite the nearly constant presence of macaron recipes on food sites across the web, I have not yet tried to make them myself . . . until now. Well, the truth is, I sort of made macarons. I cheated, just a bit, by using this macaron kit from pastry chef Francois Payard. Usually, when baking, I annoyingly insist on making everything from scratch, but this kit may have actually converted me to the semi-homemade method! The cookies were that good! Slightly chewy, moist, and not too sweet, just as a macaron should be! And they are so quick and easy to make because each MakeCaron kit provides you with the base cookies. All you need to do it make the filling, which takes five minutes, at the most! Sample ganache recipes come with the kit, but the idea is to experiment with your own fillings in order to make your own personal macaron flavors. I had a lot of fun making these and everyone loved them! Several people called them “addictive” and they were!

The MakeCaron kit comes in three flavors, chocolate, raspberry, and vanilla. They are being sold on Francois Payard’s site, right here ($22 each). ~Erin